


Magatama

by TeaRoses



Category: Hotel Dusk, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Community: springkink, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-16
Updated: 2013-09-16
Packaged: 2017-12-26 18:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/969039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaRoses/pseuds/TeaRoses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phoenix needs Kyle Hyde's memories to help his client.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magatama

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for springkink, for the prompt: Crossover, Phoenix Wright/Hotel Dusk, Phoenix/Edgeworth, Kyle Hyde/Bradley, Phoenix investigates Hotel Dusk and Hyde has Psyche Locks...
> 
> It hit me that Kyle Hyde would be an old man before Phoenix and Edgeworth are lawyers together. Rather than mess with the timeline, I decided to just work with that. I also took a rather freeform approach to how the magatama and the psyche-locks work, and the criminal penalties of the Phoenix Wright world. (It wound up quite dialogue-heavy, but... so are the games?)
> 
> Written before "Last Window" came out.

Phoenix woke to the beeping alarm, hitting it to silence it. Slowly, he rose from the bed. As tempting as it was to stay asleep, he had research to do for his client, and it couldn't wait.

As he made himself toast for breakfast, he called Edgeworth, knowing the man had probably been awake for hours. 

"Hey," he said, trying to keep his tone light. "Today I have to drive out to a hotel in the desert to follow up a lead. You want to come with?"

"Why would I want to go to a hotel in the desert?" Edgeworth asked with his usual implacable logic.

"Because it's with me!" said Phoenix playfully. They were dating... weren't they? Sometimes with Edgeworth it was hard to tell what was really going on.

"I suppose I could spare the time. I'm not prosecuting a trial right now."

"I know that," said Phoenix patiently, "or I wouldn't have asked you in the first place. How about I come get you in half an hour?"

"That will be fine. And Phoenix..."

"Yes?"

"I look forward to it."

Phoenix smiled as he hung up the phone. Edgeworth could be a pain sometimes, but it was worth keeping him around.

When he picked Edgeworth up he was a little surprised to see him wearing a white shirt, no tie, and no jacket. Phoenix was dressed similarly, but he had seldom seen Edgeworth like this. Apparently even he drew the line at wearing a jacket on a car ride into the California desert.

"So where exactly are we going?" Edgeworth asked.

"A place called the Hotel Dusk. I'm looking for information on a gang called Nile. My client is accused of killing a woman back in the nineteen seventies, but he says it was Nile who did it."

"And there are Nile members staying at the hotel?"

"That's the tricky part," said Phoenix. "I don't think Nile exists anymore. But Gumshoe gave me a tip that a New York cop named Brian Bradley used to be involved. And we're looking for his old partner, a guy named Kyle Hyde."

"Well, you can always trust Detective Gumshoe."

Phoenix wasn't entirely certain if he was being sarcastic or not. 

It took a few hours to make it to the Hotel Dusk. To Phoenix's surprise it was a small place, more a motel than a hotel really.

Phoenix and Edgeworth pushed the door open and went inside. The lobby was a little dingy but basically clean, with a few green plants and some paintings, mostly of apples. The desk in the lobby was unattended, but when Phoenix impatiently pushed the bell an older man with graying curly hair came out to talk to them.

"You guys want a room?" he asked.

"No," Phoenix replied. "Are you the owner?"

The man nodded. "Yeah. I'm Louis DeNonno. I run this place after the old owner died. "

"We’re looking for Kyle Hyde," Edgeworth interjected.

"You cops?" Louis asked.

"No, we're attorneys, but we're investigating a crime," Phoenix said. Technically, only he was investigating, but he wanted Edgeworth with him when he interviewed this guy.

Louis took out a toothpick and stuck it in his mouth. "Trying to quit smoking," he muttered. "What makes you think I'm going to tell you anything about Kyle Hyde?"

"Your friend isn't in trouble," Phoenix said.

"I didn't say he was my friend," Louis replied.

"Well, either way he's not in trouble. I just have some questions for him, about something that happened a long time ago."

"Everything with Hyde happened a long time ago," Louis muttered. "Anyway, yeah, I don't know who told you he's here but he is. Comes here all the time. Right now he's up in his room, as far as I know. Number two-fifteen."

The two men went upstairs. Phoenix gave a sharp knock to the door, and waited until a man opened it. He was a bit older than Mr. DeNonno downstairs, his hair almost completely white. Grizzled whiskers covered his chin. Phoenix could tell that he had once been handsome, and in fact was handsome still.

"Who are you?" the man asked bluntly.

"Are you Kyle Hyde?" Phoenix asked in turn. 

The man nodded. "Might as well admit to that. What's going on?"

Phoenix introduced himself and Edgeworth and showed his defense attorney badge. Kyle Hyde looked at it and handed it back with a "Hmmph." Then he asked, "You guys want to come in?"

They entered. The room was a typical motel room, or at least typical for a few decades ago.

Kyle sat down on the edge of the bed while Phoenix and Edgeworth took the two chairs in the room. On the table sat a bottle of bourbon and one glass.

"I'd offer you a drink," Kyle said, "But I don't have any more glasses. So, what exactly brings you to the Hotel Dusk?"

"I'm investigating the murder of Jean Hallman," said Phoenix. As soon as he said it, he could see darkness pass over Kyle Hyde's face. Then he felt the warmth of the magatama in his pocket. Kyle Hyde had Psyche-Locks.

"I haven't heard the name Jean Hallman since New York," the man said, but then nothing more.

"I know you don't want to talk about it," said Phoenix. "But it's important. I'm defending a man who has been accused of her murder."

"She died a long time ago," said Kyle. "There's no point digging all that up now."

"Even if an innocent man goes to prison?" Edgeworth said. Phoenix looked over at him, surprised at his interruption.

"There are plenty of innocent men in prison already, just ask them," Kyle Hyde replied.

Phoenix withdrew the magatama from his pocket and handed it to Kyle. "Just hold this for a minute," he said.

"What for?" Kyle asked.

"Just... for a minute."

Kyle took the piece of jade in his hand and stared at it. After a moment, Phoenix heard, in his mind, the distinctive sound of a Psyche-Lock breaking.

"Brian Bradley was my partner," Kyle said.

"We know that," Phoenix said.

"No. I mean he was my partner. Or don't they say that anymore?"

"You mean you were lovers?" Phoenix asked.

Kyle nodded. "Yes. That's what I mean. It was a big deal back then. Stonewall riots just a few years before... Two cops didn't go around saying they were a couple."

Phoenix and Edgeworth both nodded.

"I felt so betrayed when he got involved with Nile," Kyle went on. "I trusted him with everything. They blackmailed him, killed his sister, but there's no excuse for a cop going bad."

Kyle traced the shape of the magatama with his fingers. Another Psyche-Lock broke.

"I shot him. I shouldn't tell you that, but there's no proving it now. And he wasn't dead. I found that out later. But I... how could I live with that, someone I was that close to becoming a killer himself?"

"Do you know where he is now?" Phoenix asked urgently.

Kyle shook his head. "I think he really is dead now. He was always ashamed to face me."

Phoenix sat back in the chair, shaking his head. "I'm not sure how this helps us."

But there was one more Psyche-Lock, and Phoenix listened as it shattered.

"I remember Jean Hallman. She worked in a little art gallery in Manhattan. One night someone found her dead by the docks. We were looking at a guy named Al Silver for the crime. I think he was connected with Nile. They were an art forgery gang, mostly, and I think she had something on them."

"And what happened?" asked Phoenix gently.

"You have to understand, I didn't know then about Brian and Nile. So when he asked me to say that we'd seen Al Silver at a bar that night way across town, too drunk to move, I didn't even question it."

"You lied on the stand?" Edgeworth said in shock.

"It didn't even make it to trial," said Kyle. "Al Silver was released. If I had known what Bradley was up to I'd never have listened to him. But he told me it was nothing, just that he knew Al didn't do it and he didn't want the squad wasting their time."

"You must have known better than that!" said Edgeworth. 

Phoenix raised his eyebrows. Edgeworth could be such a purist. But Kyle only nodded.

"Yeah, I knew better. But I said what I said, and it's over now."

"No, it's not over," Phoenix insisted. "If we can find this Al Silver--"

"He's still alive. In jail for another murder," said Kyle.

"And you'll testify to what you just said?"

"Testify?" asked Kyle, shocked.

"My client will go to prison if you don't. He's a man your age. You don't want to see that happen."

Kyle closed his eyes and handed the magatama back to Phoenix. "Find Al Silver, and see if he'll confess. And I -- I'll do what I have to do."

Phoenix slipped the magatama back into his pocket. "Thank you, Mr. Hyde." 

But Kyle was already pouring himself a glass of bourbon and sipping at it. "You know where to find me," he said. "And if I'm not here, good old Louis will know where I am."

Phoenix and Edgeworth got up to leave. Kyle wasn't even looking at them anymore. 

When they reached the car and got in, Phoenix leaned over and kissed Edgeworth fiercely on the lips.

"What was that for?" Edgeworth asked, laughing.

"I don't want to grow old alone," said Phoenix. "That's all."

Edgeworth fastened his seat belt. "Well," he said, shock still evident on his face. "Well, good."


End file.
